(UN News/Elizabeth Scaffidi) Young woman wears earbuds while working on her laptop.
DIPLOMATIC TIMES STAFF REPORT
UNITED NATIONS – NEW YORK – By 2050, around one-in-four people will be living with some degree of hearing loss, the UN health agency warned on Tuesday, in its first World Report on Hearing.
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) report, launched ahead of World Hearing Day 2021 on Wednesday, says that in less than 30 years, nearly 2.5 billion people globally face the threat of hearing loss – at least 700 million of whom will require ear and hearing care as well as other rehabilitation services, unless action is taken.
That figure would mark a significant increase from the current 430 million people worldwide who are experiencing “disabling hearing loss”.
.@WHO’s first World Report on Hearing 👂🏽 warns 1⃣ in 4⃣ people will have some degree of hearing loss by 2050. Read why we need to rapidly step up efforts to prevent & address hearing loss by investing & expanding access to ear and hearing care services: https://t.co/8g0hFke0sl
— WHO South-East Asia (@WHOSEARO) March 2, 2021
“Our ability to hear is precious. Untreated hearing loss can have a devastating impact on people’s ability to communicate, to study and to earn a living”, said WHO Director-General chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “It can also impact on people’s mental health and their ability to sustain relationships”.
The vast majority of those with disabling hearing loss, live in low and middle income countries where policies, trained professionals, infrastructure and basic awareness to address the issue, are commonly lacking.
“Integrating ear and hearing care interventions within national health plans and delivering these through strengthened health systems, as part of universal health coverage, is essential to meet the needs of those at risk of or living with hearing loss”, said Bente Mikkelsen, Director of the WHO Department of Noncommunicable Diseases.
Identification is the first step in addressing hearing loss and related ear diseases.
According to WHO, clinical screening at strategic points in life ensure that any loss of hearing and ear diseases can be identified as early as possible. The report also highlights that sign language and other sensory substitution, such as speech reading, are important options for many deaf people, as are hearing assistive technology and services, including captioning and sign language interpretation.
